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*** UPDATED x2 - Feigenholtz endorses Pizer - Rep. Pizer responds to Pritzker *** Pritzker endorses Croke over appointed Rep. Pizer in Dem primary

Sunday, Feb 16, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

[Comments are now open.]

* It’s unusual for a governor to endorse a primary opponent of a sitting (albeit appointed) legislator of his own party, but you dance with the ones what brung you

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Sunday threw his support behind former campaign staffer Margaret Croke over Yoni Pizer and three other candidates in a North Side statehouse primary race that’s forcing some powerful Illinois Democrats to pick sides.

It’s a somewhat rare show of support from Pritzker, who has shied away from making endorsements for state representatives or senators. […]

Pritzker’s endorsement puts him at odds Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is supporting Pizer in the race. Pizer works as a community liaison for U.S. Rep Mike Quigley, D-Ill., and was an early supporter of Lightfoot when she was considered a long-shot candidate for City Hall’s fifth floor. […]

But they’re not the only powerful Democrats taking different sides in the race. Croke’s backers include City Clerk Anna Valencia; state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill; U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill.; other Pritzker allies and several major organized labor groups. Pizer’s backers include Illinois House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago; state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago; and Ald. Tom Tunney (44th).

Croke also has most of organized labor behind her.

* Press release…

Today, Margaret Croke, candidate for Illinois State Representative in the 12th district received the endorsement of Governor JB Pritzker.

“Today I’m proud to endorse Margaret Croke as my home State Representative here in the 12th district. We need leaders in Springfield who have a deep knowledge and understanding of the challenges facing residents and families of our state,” said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. “Margaret has been a leader and activist fighting to protect women’s health and reproductive rights. She is a thoughtful and engaged advocate for early childhood education, college affordability, and more economic opportunities - the kind of leader you and your family can depend on. I’ve known Margaret for years, and I’m grateful for the key role she played in my campaign for governor. Margaret is my choice and the best candidate to represent the people of our great 12th district.”

Croke currently serves as a member of the leadership team at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity where her work includes supporting small business opportunities and job creation.

“I am honored and grateful to receive the support of Governor Pritzker who has provided the leadership and vision needed to help steer our great state through a very challenging time, but much more work remains,” said Margaret Croke. “While I was given an incredible opportunity to join the Governor in this fight as a member of his administration, my skills and passion for this work can be far more impactful representing the residents and families of the 12th district. We need leaders in Springfield who have a depth of knowledge around the issues we must tackle in order to fix our financial challenges while ensuring critical services are provided to our most vulnerable citizens. I offer a level of experience and tenacity that we must demand in our next representative and hope to earn the support of the residents and families of this district to serve as their voice in Springfield.”

Croke is a progressive activist who is committed to stimulating the state’s economy, protecting women’s reproductive rights, and expanding early childhood education. Croke began her political career as a community organizer, standing up against campus sexual assault and supporting women running for office.

In addition to support from Governor Pritzker, Croke has received several endorsements from Democratic elected officials, including Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, City Clerk of Chicago Anna Valencia and State Senator Andy Manar, among others. Croke has also received the endorsement of the Illinois AFL-CIO and the Chicago Federation of Labor.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Rep. Yoni Pizer responds…

As the first openly gay State Rep. of the 12th District, I’m looking forward to working with the Governor when I get to Springfield on Tuesday to address the challenges facing our communities. From passing much-needed ethics reforms, expanding healthcare, protecting our environment, and ensuring the safety of the LGBTQ+ community, there’s a lot to be done and I’m excited to get to work.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…

State Senator Sara Feigenholtz on Monday endorsed Yoni Pizer in the Democratic primary election for the House seat she held for 24 years, calling Pizer “the best candidate to represent the diverse needs of the 12th District.”

“In the 24 years I proudly served as the State Representative of the 12th District, I have endorsed countless candidates for various public offices. However, endorsing a successor comes with much emotion, weight, and promise,” said Fegenholtz.

“The people of this district need a deeply rooted, longtime resident and advocate for our community and Yoni Pizer is the candidate who checks all of those boxes. His unflinching support of a woman’s right to choose, access to health care, ethics reform and protecting our environment are his top priorities. He has a keen knowledge of small business issues that are core to sustaining the quality of life in our neighborhoods.

“In the years that I have served, I realize how representation matters. Yoni is an openly gay Jewish person who moved to Lakeview with his husband and raised two sons right here in our neighborhood because he felt safe and at home. He is emblematic of the diversity of this district. At a time when hate crimes and antisemitism are on the rise, we need leaders like Yoni fighting for our community in Springfield.”

“I’m grateful to have the endorsement of Sen. Feigenholtz,” said Rep. Pizer. “For 24 years, Sara has represented our community with honest, effective, and progressive leadership,” said Rep. Pizer. “When others wouldn’t stand up for the LGBTQ+ community, Sara stood in solidarity with us. Sara’s been a loud, proud, and clear voice for the Jewish community and has fought back against all forms of hate. I look forward to working with Senator Feigenholtz on the issues that matter most, like protecting the right to choose, passing the Clean Energy Jobs Act, and ensuring Illinois never becomes a so-called ‘right-to-work’ state. Sen. Feigenholz and I both know that representation of our communities is critically important now more than ever. I look forward to following in her footsteps and working alongside her in Springfield.”

Sen. Feigenholz held the 12th District State Representative seat until last month, when she was appointed to the Senate seat vacated by retiring Sen. John Cullerton. Democratic Party committee members then voted to appoint Pizer to the 12th District seat for which he is also a candidate in the March 17 Democratic primary election.

In addition to serving as Community Liaison for Congressman Quigley for the past five years, and running two small businesses, Pizer has been a grassroots organizer for Democratic presidential candidates for several decades. Pizer lives with his husband, Brad Lippitz, in East Lakeview, where they have raised their two sons. Pizer is the first openly LGBTQ+ representative of Illinois’ 12th state house District, which includes the Gold Coast, Near North, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and Buena Park neighborhoods.

  6 Comments      


Reader comments closed for the holiday weekend

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* They just don’t make ‘em like Daniel Pierce any more. This is from 1988

Twenty years into his political career, Highland Park Mayor Daniel Pierce changed hats.

After being state representative for the 58th District for two decades, Pierce shifted to local government when he was elected mayor in the spring of 1987.

‘’Some people were surprised and asked why I wanted to go to the municipal level of government after being at the state level,'’ says Pierce, 60. ‘’It`s a much different experience, but the move to mayor of my own hometown was very satisfactory and challenging. Being mayor puts you right in the heart of the community. And I like that.'’

Born in Chicago, he lived in Glencoe before his family settled in Highland Park in 1944. He graduated from New Trier Township High School in 1946, got a bachelor of arts degree from Harvard University in 1949 and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1952. Then he served in the Air Force in the Korean War.

Dan passed away this week. I got to know him over the years and I always enjoyed his company. Everyone did. My sincere condolences to his family. He was truly a joy to know.

* Meanwhile, I went out for drinks with Nikki the other night. She’s very excited about this career move

Governor J.B. Pritzker’s senior adviser and former campaign consultant Nikki Budzinksi is leaving the administration at the end of the month.

“I love the Governor,” Budzinski said in a phone call Wednesday morning, “but it was just time.”

Budzinski’s role was not always clearly defined within the administration. As senior adviser, she floated between four deputy governors and helped as a sort of utility player to steer big pieces of legislation through the statehouse in the early days of the first year. Her chief accomplishment was negotiating with labor leaders and legislators to coordinate the passage of the $15 minimum wage hike, and later to implement a massive broadband expansion which promises to deliver faster internet speeds downstate. […]

“Nikki is widely beloved downstate, and is a close ally and friend,” Governor Pritzker said in an emailed statement. “She also is the first person who supported me, helped me to decide whether to run for governor and helped put together my campaign from our earliest days. As senior adviser, she was a valued voice in the administration, and while she will be missed, I know that she will succeed in this next professional chapter.”

Good luck!

* Talk with you Tuesday

Play the blues

  Comments Off      


It’s just a bill

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Illinois Family Institute, AKA masters of understatement…

Illinois’ lesbian lawmaker Kelly Cassidy, arch nemesis of the good, the true, and the beautiful and creator of the worst legislation (e.g., the barbaric Baby Snuff Law) to come out of the fetid swamp in Springfield, and her collaborator Robyn Gabel have just sponsored HB 4870, a bill to require all children to mandate the HPV vaccine before entering middle school. And by all, I mean ALL.

This invasive, imperial diktat would apply to children in public and private schools—which includes all private religious schools (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, and Muslim), and homeschools—no exceptions. Don’t be surprised, however, if an amendment is added to exempt homeschools, (maybe even religious private schools). There’s little that presumptuous, self-righteous Springfield swampsters with their super-majorities in both houses fear, but they do fear homeschool parents.

The release then unsurprisingly attempts to stir up anti-vaxer sentiment.

* Press release…

Standards for comprehensive sexual health education curriculum in grades 6 through 12 in public schools in Illinois will be updated and expanded under legislation introduced this week. The Healthy Youth Act (HB 5012 and SB 3788) builds upon the current requirement for sexual health education in Illinois so that it includes instruction that is also culturally and linguistically appropriate and adapted for students with disabilities and non-English speaking students. If sexual health education courses are taught in grades 5 and under, they must be age-appropriate, medically accurate, evidence-based or evidence-informed, and culturally, developmentally, and linguistically appropriate. The Act will also ensure that sexual health education in Illinois is inclusive and affirming of communities historically stigmatized or excluded including LGBTQIA and pregnant or parenting youth.

“As a former sexual health educator, I know it is critical that young people receive a full toolbox of knowledge and skills to reduce harm and support overall health and well-being now and for their entire lives. I look forward to passing the Healthy Youth Act to update and expand Illinois sexual health education standards,” said State Senator Celina Villanueva, who will sponsor the bill in the Illinois Senate.

The Healthy Youth Act removes outdated language and builds on the current standards for health and sexual health education courses by including: pregnancy and reproduction; gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation; puberty, growth, and adolescent development; anatomy and physiology; healthy relationships and friendships; healthy decision-making; and personal safety.

“As a legislator, assuring that young people have all the tools to make healthy decisions has been a priority for me,” added State Representative Camille Lilly who will sponsor the measure in the Illinois House. “Seven years ago, we updated this law. But as times and understanding of what young people need evolves, we must keep pace. The Healthy Youth Act builds on our efforts and will serve students across the State of Illinois.”

“The Healthy Youth Act will raise the standard for what youth across our state are taught, and will provide them with a full, modern toolbox of knowledge. It will educate students with the information that can combat myths and misinformation that often puts them at risk, and instead prepares them for a safe and healthy life. We are proud to be a part of this coalition to pass this legislation this year,” said Khadine Bennett, Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director, ACLU of Illinois.

“The Healthy Youth Act embodies our primary goals at Comprehensive Sex Ed Now. We love that the bill would set the precedent for a future of high-quality comprehensive sex education that is accessible to all. Supporting this bill has been such an amazing opportunity and we look forward to working with them in the future,” said Taylor Holt of Comprehensive Sex Ed Now.

“Passing the Healthy Youth Act will allow youth across Illinois to grow and mature with the knowledge and tools to live their best lives. We are thrilled that this legislation addresses inclusion of heavily stigmatized communities, including young people living with or vulnerable to HIV. It’s been a pleasure to work with the coalition on this measure thus far and we look forward to this bill becoming law this year,” said Timothy Jackson, Director of Government Relations, AIDS Foundation of Chicago.

The supporting organizations for this legislation include: American Association of University Women, ACLU of Illinois, ACLU of Illinois – Champaign Chapter, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Affinity Community Services, Chicago Abortion Fund, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center, Chicago Women’s Health Center, Comprehensive Sex Ed Now, EverThrive Illinois, Girls Inc. of Chicago, Howard Brown Health Center, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, Illinois National Organization for Women, Illinois Safe Schools Alliance (a program of the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago), Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Council of Jewish Women – North Shore, Peer Health Exchange, Pride Action Tank, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Health, Resilience (formerly Rape Victim Advocates), Teen Health Council, UIC – Urban Medicine Program, and YWCA Evanston/Northshore.

* And another press release…

Today State Representative Steve Reick (R-Woodstock) held a press conference at the McHenry County Government Center to announce that he has filed legislation which will create the McHenry County Children and Family Services Agency to assume the duties of the McHenry County office of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)

“For the past 9 months I’ve been part of a bipartisan legislative working group established to examine the operations of DCFS,” Reick said. “During that time one thing has become abundantly clear: DCFS is an agency in need of systemic change.”

Reick continued, “The tragic death of A.J. Freund has shined a bright light on the problems which exist in the agency as a whole and the McHenry County office in particular. The goal of this legislation is to create a framework to make this new county agency a model for the rest of the state. Under the jurisdiction of local government, the purpose of this new agency is to provide more responsive, effective, and efficient child welfare services to the people of this community.”

The legislation, House Bill 4886, to be called “A.J.’s Law”, creates a 5-year pilot program in McHenry County to replace the operations of DCFS. The Agency will be given all powers and duties of the Department under the Children and Family Services Act as well as the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.

“I am supportive of changes to the DCFS structure,” said State Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry). “Greater local control/authority over DCFS offices will increase cooperation and collaboration between DCFS, States Attorney, law enforcement and service providers to meet the goal of protecting our children.”

The internal operations of the agency are also outlined in the legislation. The bill provides for the appointment of an executive director by the Chairman of the McHenry County Board, with approval by the full Board, and for the employment of investigators and staff as County employees. The Agency would be funded by State appropriations from the DCFS budget.

The bill was inspired by a letter sent to Reick by McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally in October, wherein he stated:

“[T]he primary responsibility for protecting children in a community should belong to the community, not the State. Moreover… the agents designated to protect children in a community should be primarily accountable to the community, not the State. As such, I would strongly urge you to consider legislation that would provide a significant measure of control over DCFS operations within a county to county government.”

“Months of bipartisan meetings with stakeholders from here in McHenry County and across Illinois have only confirmed what was so plainly stated in Patrick’s letter,” explained Reick. “An agency that serves two masters cannot provide the kind of protections that will prevent more tragedies like the one we experienced here in our own back yard.”

  24 Comments      


*** UPDATED x1 *** Tobolski’s chief of staff indicted on red-light cam bribery charges

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Stay tuned for more…


*** UPDATE *** The indictment is here.

…Adding… From the US Attorney’s office…

A sales agent for a Chicago-area red-light camera company has been indicted for allegedly conspiring to pay bribes to obtain approval to install additional cameras in suburban Oak Lawn.

PATRICK J. DOHERTY, 64, of Palos Heights, is charged with one count of conspiracy to use an interstate facility to facilitate bribery, and two counts of using an interstate facility to facilitate bribery. The indictment was returned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. An arraignment date has not yet been scheduled.

The indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the FBI; and Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher J. Stetler, Tiffany A. Ardam and James P. Durkin.

According to the indictment, Doherty worked as a sales agent for the red-light camera company that since 2014 had a contract with Oak Lawn to provide cameras at certain intersections. Renewal of the contract and installation of cameras at additional intersections required approval from Oak Lawn’s Board of Trustees, the indictment states.

The charges allege that in 2017 Doherty conspired with an individual with a financial interest in the red-light camera company and another sales agent of the company to pay money to a relative of an elected Oak Lawn Trustee to influence the Trustee into using his official position to approve installation of cameras at additional intersections. The conspirators agreed to pay the relative a total of approximately $4,000 over an eight-week period, the indictment states. In order to conceal the purpose of the payments, the conspirators agreed that Doherty would make the payments from a separate company, the indictment states.

In a telephone conversation on May 25, 2017, Doherty told the other sales agent that Doherty would pay the Trustee’s relative “if it’s going to get us the job,” according to the indictment. Doherty allegedly added, “I’ll just pay it. Just make sure we get the, make sure we get the [expletive] thing, the contract.”

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Each count in the indictment is punishable by up to five years in prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

…Adding… A bit of history from the Sun-Times

In an interview last fall with the Chicago Sun-Times, Doherty said he had been interviewed by FBI and IRS agents at his home. He also insisted the interview was not about SafeSpeed.

Rather, Doherty said, agents asked about another company run by SafeSpeed investor Omar Maani — who is believed to be cooperating with federal authorities — that has been involved in low-income housing projects in Cicero and Summit. The projects involved the construction of dozens of townhomes and received taxpayer subsidies through county government, Doherty said.

Doherty and Tobolski were involved in getting Maani’s firm that funding, apparently without competitive bidding.

  22 Comments      


Question of the day

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Jeanne Ives campaign…

To celebrate the holiday, I’ve come up with a special Valentine’s Day message:

    Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    Sean Casten wants to raise taxes on you!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

* ILGOP…

In honor of Valentine’s Day this year, we wanted to share a poem that we wrote to Speaker Madigan.

Dear Madigan:


🌹Roses are red,🌹

💙Violets are blue,💙

Your network of political cronies

Are just as corrupt as you!

Higher taxes and more spending,

For you it’s nothing new,

🐘But the ILGOP says ENOUGH,🐘

🇺🇸And this November we’ll prove we’re through! 🇺🇸

* The Question: How about sending your own Valentine’s Day message? It can be political or personal. Up to you.

  47 Comments      


*** UPDATED x1 - Biz groups raise concerns *** Pritzker claims FY21 budget savings of $225 million

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* His budget address is next Wednesday, so this press release is a bit of a preview…

In a comprehensive effort to save taxpayer dollars while investing in efforts that build our long-term financial health, Governor JB Pritzker announced that his administration has identified a variety of government efficiencies that will provide $225 million of budgetary relief in Fiscal Year 2021 and at least $750 million over the next three years.

“I believe strongly that effective government demands efficient government—and it’s been a point of pride for my administration to act as wise fiscal stewards of Illinois’ limited state resources, maximizing operational resources and saving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “In the past, irresponsible management of state revenue and a failure to invest in the long-term health of our state and its people put us in a challenging fiscal position. But today, I’m proud to announce that for the coming year, our efficiencies and initiatives will yield at least $225 million in savings and will put the state in a position to save more than $750 million over the next three years.”

The Pritzker administration has achieved these savings through optimizing state agency operations, consolidating agencies and eliminating duplicative or dormant boards and commissions.

A comprehensive list of Gov. Pritzker’s proposed government efficiencies is attached. Among the savings highlights:

    Moving on from the years of hostility under the previous administration, Gov. Pritzker has treated the state’s dedicated workers and retirees with respect, negotiated with unions in good faith and reached agreements with 20 of 33 bargaining units across the state. Through effective negotiations and innovative health care health care plan design, the Pritzker administration has achieved an estimated $650 million in cost savings to taxpayers through fiscal year 2023, including more than $175 million in Fiscal Year 2021.

    Working with Comptroller Mendoza’s office to pay overdue medical bills, the administration has saved the state $15.7 million in late-payment interest costs in FY20 and an additional $25 million in FY21.

    In addition, every state agency has reviewed their operations to ensure high-quality services are delivered as efficiently as possible. For example, the Department of Corrections’ operational efficiencies will save more than $25 million while enhanced revenue collections at the Department of Revenue is expected to generate as much as $15 million.

    With some agencies performing duplicative functions, the Pritzker administration is looking toward consolidation to save taxpayer resources. The administration is exploring a merger of the Illinois Department of Labor and the Illinois Department of Employment Security and will merge the anti-fraud program at the Workers’ Compensation Commission with the anti-fraud unit at the Department of Insurance, as well as the Coroner Training Board with the Department of Public Health.

    Finally, the administration has begun an extensive review of the more than 700 boards and commissions operating throughout state government to identify further opportunities for cost savings. Many boards are duplicative, outdated and dormant, and therefore could be eliminated to save taxpayer resources.

* From the attachment

The Office of the Governor will explore a merger of the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). The functions of each agency previously were housed in a singular agency before IDES was separated out by then-Governor James R. Thompson in 1984. The justifications provided by Governor Thompson for the split may no longer apply, as both agencies receive significant federal funding from many of the same sources. Further, most other states provide all of the functions undertaken by IDOL and IDES under a single agency. A consolidation could result in significant savings and a more effective, unified agency overseeing labor regulation and job-related programs for the businesses and workers of Illinois.

The review of a potential merger will address any possible obstacles to effectively combing the agencies, while also determining other potential benefits of consolidation, including:

    • The merger would create a one stop shop for employment issues – providing better service to the public.
    • With the merging of information under one agency, the State could enhance enforcement of labor and unemployment laws and more effectively prevent fraud.
    • “Underground economy” would be easier to track. Consolidation of enforcement capabilities would streamline information being shared with key personnel, preventing employee misclassification, and weeding out bad faith employers to create a more level playing field for businesses that follow the law.
    • Cross-agency utilization of full data sets would enable a holistic approach to removing barriers in apprenticeship programs, allowing the agency to target areas of high unemployment more efficiently and effectively.
    • By merging the agencies, workers would have the combined strength of the regional offices to address their concerns. IDOL could leverage IDES’ existing outreach system to better inform the public about fair labor standards, prevailing wage requirements and other labor laws. Additionally, regional offices could be equipped to assist the public in filing complaints and resolving labor law violations, thus enhancing service delivery.
    • With the broader reach of offices in communities all across Illinois, the combined agency would have greater ability to act locally to provide assistance to working families and to develop policies that are more responsive to community needs.

Thoughts?

*** UPDATE *** Press release…

The Joint Employers released the following statement regarding the Pritzker Administration’s proposal to merge the Illinois Department of Employment Security with the Illinois Department of Labor:

“While we appreciate and support efforts to find efficiencies in state government, the Joint Employers are disappointed to learn this includes the possibility of merging the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) with the Illinois Department of Labor. Such a proposal suggests a lack of understanding of the need for IDES to act as a standalone agency and raises questions about what, if any, benefits would come from a merger.

IDES was created by the legislature in the early 1980s in recognition that the system of unemployment insurance benefits is funded by Illinois employers and deserved special focus outside of the Illinois Department of Labor, which has a very different function. Because 100 percent of IDES’s administrative funding comes from the federal government, except for in the case of special projects, it is unlikely that there are any administrative savings to be had.

Further, IDES was created to serve as a neutral arbiter to assist both employers and labor during agreed bill negotiations. These occur every few years when a negotiating group from both sides come together to determine what changes, if any, need to be made to the unemployment insurance benefit program. Since its creation, every administration, whether Democrat or Republican, has not only supported the agreed bill process but ensured the leadership of IDES maintains their role as a neutral arbiter. A merger endangers this independence and compromises the agreed bill process.

We are hopeful the Pritzker Administration will engage in a dialogue with impacted entities on this proposal. The work of IDES has been especially important to both business and labor and has maintained a balanced approach that has served both sides well.”

The Joint Employers are comprised of the Associated General Contractors of Illinois, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, and the National Federation of Independent Business.

  17 Comments      


The devil, as always, is in the details

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the remap reform proposal

For purposes of reapportionment and redistricting, the Commission shall count each incarcerated person as residing at his or her last known place of residence, rather than at the institution of his or her incarceration.

Prisoners from outside Illinois are exempt, of course. I’m thinking some Downstaters may not love this because their districts will get much larger. Doing this would also make it much easier to eliminate a Downstate congressional district after reapportionment.

* Brian Mackey

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced an amendment to the Illinois Constitution meant to transform the way legislative district boundaries are created here.

The idea is to have an independent commission draw legislative districts for the General Assembly and Congress.

The task is supposed to happen every 10 years after the census, and in Illinois has been handled by whatever party controls state government — presently Democrats.

The commission would be picked by the chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and the next most senior justice elected from a different party. (Today that’s Chief Justice Anne Burke, who was elected as a Democrat, and Justice Robert Thomas, who was elected as a Republican. Thomas has announced his retirement for the end of this month; Justice Rita Garman will then be the longest-tenured Republican on the court).

I respect Justice Burke and I don’t believe she should be judged by her husband. But the time’s are changing, so her power over the remap will be a super-easy talking point against this proposal.

* From former GOP Rep. Peter Breen, who is running against Rep. Terra Costa Howard to get his old job back…

Rep. Terra Costa Howard’s political patron and chief campaign funder, House Speaker Michael Madigan, has held back Fair Maps for years, fighting citizen initiatives in the courts and squashing amendment resolutions in the General Assembly. Everyone in the state knows that no Fair Maps amendment can pass the General Assembly until Madigan resigns or is removed. Yet Costa Howard continues to support Madigan for Speaker, even in the teeth of her campaign promises that she would be independent of and wouldn’t support Madigan. Costa Howard’s filing of another Fair Maps amendment can’t distract from the fact she has no discernible body of work in her time in the General Assembly: all she’s demonstrated is an inability to tell the truth.

That’s why our people-powered movement, FairMapsIllinois.com, has been quietly collecting signatures to put a clean, simple, legally-sound Fair Maps amendment on the November ballot, going around Madigan and his General Assembly enablers, including Terra Costa Howard. The citizen initiative process is the one sure way, free of interference from the corrupt Springfield machine, for the people of Illinois to finally reach their goal of achieving Fair Maps.

While he’s right about Madigan’s recalcitrance, Breen’s Fair Maps Illinois committee has reported raising just $100. And his committee’s website prominently features a photo of… himself.

* More on the leadership angle from Finke’s piece

[Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake] said it will be up to lawmakers to work around any potential opposition from legislative leaders.

“I believe that if we have a mass of legislators that want this amendment to move forward and be on the ballot, that’s the way the leaders are going to pay attention, know we’re serious,” Bush said. “It has to be bipartisan. It’s up to us.”

She cited the Reproductive Health Act from last year that was stalled until rank and file lawmakers put enough pressure on the leaders to start moving it. The bill passed and is now law.

“We must stand together and we must build a mass,” Bush said.

The question is, do rank and file Democrats truly want this to pass enough to say they will shut down the process unless they get what they want? That’s what happened with RHA last year. House Democratic freshmen told Speaker Madigan it had to be called or they were walking. It was called. It remains to be seen whether this proposal has that level of enthusiasm behind it.

Also, the fact that zero legislators of color were at yesterday’s press conference and none are listed as co-sponsors argues against that happening.

* From Hannah Meisel’s piece

Madeleine Doubek, a former journalist and executive director of Change Illinois, said the measure introduced Thursday — dubbed the Fair Maps Amendment — would protect the rights of Black and Latino residents of Illinois and uphold the federal Voting Rights Act as well as the state voting rights law.

“We will do everything to protect voting rights,” Doubek said.

OK, prove it by finding some sponsors of color.

* Um

A 2014 analysis by the Washington Post named Illinois’ 4th congressional district, consisting of western Chicago suburbs such as Cicero and Brookfield, among the 10 most gerrymandered in the country. The district, which elected Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García in 2018 by a 73-point margin, resembles a pair of earmuffs. The two sides of the district are connected by a narrow patch of grass under Interstate 290.

That district was drawn under Republican dominance of the 1991 remap to create the first Latinx congressional district in state history. That’s not gerrymandering, unless you oppose racial equity.

* Center Square

State Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, said the way the maps are drawn now with the majority party controlling where the lines go breeds toxic politics.

“It only pushes incumbents to adopt an extremist political manifesto in an attempt to hold on to that seat,” Bush said. “Democrats become more liberal and Republicans more conservative and we lose any chance to a healthy balance between the two extremes.”

Amid ongoing federal corruption probes involving state lawmakers, state Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, said an independent commission is needed to combat self-interested politicians.

“So if you want to root out corruption in this state, this is the place we need to start,” he said.

It’s true that incumbents in “safe” districts only need to worry about their primaries. But we saw a number of “safe” suburban districts all of a sudden become toss-up districts in 2018. And, I don’t care how fair the maps are, you can’t draw a Democratic Senate district in Effingham nor a Republican Senate District in Englewood.

Also, did unfair maps really prompt Martin Sandoval to take bribes and Luis Arroyo to bribe a Senator? I’d like to see some data to back up that often-used talking point.

* But I do agree with this

“The time for an end to gerrymandering is now so that we’re not saddled with another ten years of maps that stifle competition and suppress voters’ choices,” Doubek said.

  13 Comments      


Gift Of Hope Supports The Illinois Kidney Care Alliance

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

To highlight the needs of people with kidney disease, organizations from across our state have come together to create the Illinois Kidney Care Alliance (IKCA), a coalition of health advocates and professionals, community and patient groups, providers, and businesses. IKCA is focused on raising awareness of the needs of people who suffer from End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), a condition also known as kidney failure.

We’re proud to count Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network among IKCA’s inaugural members. Gift of Hope proudly serves as the federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organization (OPO) that coordinates organ and tissue donation and services to families of donors in the northern three-quarters of Illinois and northwest Indiana.

With more than 30,000 Illinoisans suffering from kidney failure, and 100,000 Americans awaiting a kidney transplant, IKCA’s goal is to protect the most vulnerable, those currently on life-sustaining dialysis, and those waiting for a functioning kidney. For more information, please visit our website.

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Mike Invests In Black American Futures

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Mike finished second place in a Quinnipiac poll of Black Americans. Why? Because he puts his money where his mouth is, and invests in local communities.

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Just yesterday, Mike launched Mike for Black America, a national movement to engage Black voters across the country on the issues they care about and share Mike’s vision for addressing systemic bias and promoting economic justice for Black America.

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Join Mike’s campaign alongside more than 100 mayors and help build the strength we need to defeat Donald Trump.

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Baise is right about this

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Center Square

Pritzker said the proposed rates that would follow possible voter approval of a progressive income tax are fair because it would mean lower rates for most taxpayers.

“It’s only the top 2.7 or 3 percent that will pay a little more,” Pritzker said. “Addressing income inequality is very important.”

[Ideas Illinois Chairman Greg Baise] said addressing income inequality wasn’t in the governor’s job description. He said state government hasn’t proven it can wisely spend the money it collects now.

“The flat income tax in this state makes it a little more difficult for your elected representatives, who in the last ten years have raised taxes on taxpayers in Illinois and still we have all those other problems: State debt, property taxes and a pension deficit,” Base said.

The progressive tax rates are separate from the proposed amendment. If the flat tax is done away with and the constitution allows for tiered rates with higher rates on higher earners, state lawmakers could change the rates every year.

“What this argument is about is to give an opportunity for Springfield politicians to have an easier way to raise money when they need, for whatever particular pet project they happen to be wanting to get done in any particular year and this would open that door,” Baise said.

A governor’s “job description” is whatever he says it is within the confines of the constitutions and statutes.

But I do agree with Baise on his other point. It’s difficult for legislators to raise the flat tax because they’re increasing taxes on everyone. Just look at the last 20 years. Blagojevich wouldn’t go near an income tax hike, Quinn waited until he had safely won an election and when it was abundantly clear the state was drowning in red ink during a massive recession, Rauner refused to talk about it when the tax hike partially rolled back and taxes were only raised back up to almost the status quo ante when desperate Republicans crossed the aisle to override him.

It’s a whole lot easier to just jack up the rates on the top 3 percent.

…Adding… From a commenter…

It’s a way to raise the state’s income without going to people who are just getting by for more money. Yes, it’s easier on politicians, but it’s easier on politicians because it’s easier for their constituents. That’s kinda the whole point.

* Related…

* David Borris: Fair Tax will help everyone, including our small businesses

  53 Comments      


Mailer attacked for being “extremely offensive”

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From Carolyn Schofield, a Crystal Lake Republican who is running against Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee)…

Rich-

I hesitated to send this because I find this mailer extremely offensive not just to me personally but to all women. However, I thought you might be interested as I find this behavior from a sitting legislator sickening. Using a #rape, #sexualharrassment for political gain is pathetic. This went out about a week ago and everyone that I know that received it said it was addressed to the male in the household.

If my opponent were to attend any interview/forum that he were invited to then he would know I have publicly addressed all of the issues he completely lies about on this mailer. I guess if you don’t show up to find the truth then he feels justified in spreading lies. Linking me to Mike Madigan (a man who I have never met or said anything positive about) only plays on the statistics that show negative attacks work. This is the tactic he barely won on last time (along with $500,000 of Proft/Rauner money to spread those lies) and he has done nothing as a representative to run on this time. I truly hope the voters of the 66th District do not fall for these desperate tactics.

The best way to fight back is with your own mailers, but Schofield ended the fourth quarter with just $6,000 in the bank and has reported raising $7,500 since then.

* Anyway, here you go…

Thoughts?

  38 Comments      


The easy way out needs to end

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Dan Petrella at the Tribune

Last week, former Legislative Inspector General Julie Porter told a state ethics task force that the commission — a bipartisan panel of eight lawmakers from the Illinois House and Senate — blocked the release of a report in which she found “serious wrongdoing” by a sitting legislator. […]

Records from Legislative Ethics Commission meetings in May, obtained through an open-records request, show the panel considered a case in which the inspector general had determined someone violated a state law requiring lawmakers and legislative staff to cooperate with her investigations.

Porter’s testimony last week indicated that before leaving office in February 2019 she’d asked the attorney general’s office to bring a formal complaint before the commission. At a May 16 meeting, the commission considered a petition from the attorney general’s office. Democratic Sen. Terry Link of Vernon Hills made a motion to close the case, which was seconded by Democratic Rep. Kathleen Willis of Addison. The motion failed on a 4-4 vote, leaving the case open.

Due to a procedural problem with the initial vote, the issue came before the commission again eight days later. This time, Republican Rep. Norine Hammond of Macomb made a motion, seconded by Republican Rep. Avery Bourne of Raymond, to find that the complaint showed sufficient evidence that the law had been violated. There was another 4-4 vote, and this one resulted in the report remaining secret.

At the very least, the Legislative Ethics Commission needs a tie-breaking member. It’s too easy to just split these things on partisan lines to thwart progress and everyone winks at each other because they know the same result will likely happen when a member of their own party’s neck is on the line.

Some states have citizens on their commissions. That should be looked at here.

Yes, I know it’s easier said than done. Who is picked and how? OK, fine. Ask NCSL to a look at how other states do it and choose the best plan(s).

And, by the way, the same goes for the State Board of Elections. Too many tie votes on that board.

  7 Comments      


Despite ISP’s post-Aurora shooting efforts, “revoked FOID cardholders who have not accounted for their guns rose 14 percent”

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* First, some background

On Feb. 15, 2019, a man shot and killed five co-workers at a warehouse in Aurora before he was killed by police. Illinois State Police said the shooter, Gary Martin, bought a gun in 2014 with a valid Firearm Owners Identification card. Martin had a prior conviction in another state that made him ineligible to qualify for a FOID card, but he lied about that conviction when he applied to the Illinois State Police for a FOID card. The agency did a background check for Martin in Illinois. Illinois State Police later revoked Martin’s FOID card after he submitted fingerprints to speed up the processing of his application for a concealed carry license. Those prints alerted officials to his conviction in Mississippi, ISP officials said at the time.

ISP Director Brendan Kelly said Thursday at a news conference in Springfield that in the wake of the Aurora shooting, state police had stepped up enforcement efforts. Since May 2019, Kelly said law enforcement agencies conducted more than 200 revoked FOID card details across the state.

* Team coverage today in the Tribune

By the time Christopher Miller showed up at his estranged wife’s backdoor in September 2019 with a pistol in his waistband, state authorities already had declared him too dangerous to own firearms.

He had lost his gun license 20 months earlier after being charged with aggravated battery for brutally beating a man in a Naperville parking lot. He disregarded orders to relinquish any weapons, and no one made sure he complied.

Miller startled his wife that autumn afternoon as she moved around the kitchen making a snack for her daughter. With cocaine and alcohol in his system, he stared at Cassandra Tanner Miller with hazel eyes so dilated they appeared black.

“Are you all ready to die today?” he asked as he suddenly burst into the Joliet house.

Within minutes, Miller had choked his wife until she lost consciousness and fatally shot his 18-month-old son, Colton, with a .22-caliber Ruger — one of at least three handguns in his possession despite orders from the Illinois State Police to relinquish any firearms in January 2018. Miller fired that illicit gun so many times, at least 10, the coroner could not definitively track the bullets that shattered the toddler’s skull. […]

Since the Aurora shooting and a year after officials sounded the alarms, the number of revoked FOID cardholders who have not accounted for their guns rose 14%, from 26,797 in February 2019 to 30,602 people in December. [Emphasis added.]

* Finke

Fingerprinting gun owners in Illinois would help keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said Thursday.

That’s why, Kelly said, the Illinois Senate should give final approval to Senate Bill 1966 that includes a provision that a person applying for or renewing a Firearm Owners Identification Card must submit a set of fingerprints.

“Compliance with FOID laws does not always result in criminal charges,” Kelly said. “The goal is to keep guns out of the hands of people prohibited from having them.”

Kelly spoke as the state neared the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora. Six people were killed in the shooting, including the shooter. Six others were wounded.

* WSIL TV

Kelly says the victims and survivors of the Aurora shooting deserve honesty and the best efforts from police. He explained Senate Bill 1966 could bring in close to $6.2 million a year in grant funding for FOID card enforcement.

“That bill will provide additional resources necessary to sustain and improve our efforts to improve our access to fingerprint-associated records across the country, and to support local law enforcement’s ability to accomplish this public safety mission,” said Kelly.

The proposal would also drop the FOID card renewal period to five years, instead of 10. That bill passed out of the House last spring before stalling in the Senate. Kelly hopes the plan will gain enough support in the coming months to make it to the Governor’s desk. Pritzker has previously announced his support for the bill.

* Daily Herald

In 2018, Kelly said, a little more than 2,000 firearm disposal reports were filed with the state, signifying a gun that had either been seized, turned in or turned over to a person legally entitled to possess it.

Last year, there were 4,562 reports filed, Kelly said.

“By any measure, that’s an improvement,” he said. “Is it good enough? Hell, no. We’ve got a lot more to do.”

  37 Comments      


Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Madigan, Pritzker, Burke top list of campaign legal spending for 2019

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Sun-Times searched campaign legal spending for all of 2019 and found $5.3 million in expenditures

The Friends of Michael J. Madigan campaign account topped all other political groups, with nearly $1.3 million spent on lawyers and related costs, according to a Sun-Times analysis of Illinois State Board of Elections records since Jan. 1, 2019.

At No. 2, the JB for Governor fund paid more than $960,000 to the law firm Perkins Coie LLP in the same period. A Pritzker campaign spokesman says that covered the cost of litigation by former campaign workers who said they were the victims of discrimination and harassment, as well as “financial disclosure filings and matters related to the campaign.” […]

[Ald. Ed Burke’s] legal fees over the past year that he’s tapped his political kitty to cover have topped $800,000, records show. Burke was charged in January 2019 with attempted extortion, accused of trying to muscle the owner of a Burger King franchise into hiring his law firm for property tax appeals. Burke subsequently was indicted in a broader racketeering case. […]

Many of the legal expenses examined by the Sun-Times appear to be routine, for the usual legal matters involved in helping candidates get on the ballot and trying to knock their opponents off, among other things.

In her failed campaign for mayor of Chicago, which went to a runoff before she lost to Lori Lightfoot, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle paid $99,390.95 through April 2019 to Ancel Glink P.C., mainly for the firm to handle election petition challenges, according to a campaign spokeswoman. Using her county board campaign fund, she spent another $4,812 with the same firm.

Click here for the full list.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

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*** LIVE COVERAGE ***

Friday, Feb 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Follow along with ScribbleLive


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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Campaign updates

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Question of the day

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From today’s redistricting press release

The [Fair Maps] commission members would be carefully selected to represent everyone who lives in Illinois, instead of placing power over district boundaries in the hands of politicians who have a vested interest in protecting their own careers.

* From HJRCA41

No later than March 1 of the year that follows the federal decennial census, the Chief Justice and the most senior Supreme Court Justice who is not elected from the same political party as the Chief Justice shall select 17 commissioners to form an Independent Redistricting Commission. The commissioners shall reflect the ethnic, gender, and racial demographics of Illinois to reflect the demographic data provided by the decennial census, each commissioner shall be a voter who has been continuously affiliated in Illinois with the same political party or unaffiliated with a political party and who has not changed political party affiliation for 5 or more years immediately preceding the date of his or her appointment. Fourteen of the commissioners shall represent, in equal number, the two political parties whose gubernatorial candidates received the greatest number of votes in the last gubernatorial election and 3 of the commissioners must represent neither of those parties. No more than one commissioner shall be from the same Congressional District. If the total number of Congressional Districts equal less than 17, then at-large commissioners will be appointed to fill vacancies, and no more than 2 commissioners shall be from the same Congressional District. The 2 Justices responsible for selecting the 17 commissioners shall consider party identification and all campaign contributions in determining a potential commissioner’s eligibility.

(d) A person is ineligible to serve on the Commission if within the previous 5 calendar years the person or his or her spouse or immediate family member, including his or her parents, children, step-children, or siblings, is or has been:

    (1) appointed or elected to a position with the State, federal, or local government;

    (2) a candidate for State, federal or local office;

    (3) a paid consultant or employee of a State, federal, or local elected official or political candidate, of a 1federal, State, or local political candidate’s campaign, or of a political action committee or any other electioneering entity;

    (4) a State, federal, or local lobbyist as defined by law;

    (5) an individual with an ownership interest in an entity with a State, federal, or local government contract; or

    (6) appointed or elected to serve a State, federal, or local political party.

* The Question: Your thoughts on the selection process and ineligible list? Make sure to explain. Thanks.

  26 Comments      


Pritzker kicks off statewide research network funding

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This is big

Construction on the first major piece of The 78 megadevelopment in the South Loop should begin later this year, after Gov. JB Pritzker announced the release of $500 million in capital funding for the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), a research hub led by the University of Illinois.

DPI will be the anchor of the first phase of the $7 billion 62-acre project, which will be built along a vacant stretch of land on the east bank of the Chicago River between the South Loop and Chinatown.

The University of Illinois plans to build a 500,000-square foot headquarters for DPI as the centerpiece for the first phase of The 78. Construction of the center is expected to be completed in 2024.

The center would focus on specialized research in computing, big data, food and agriculture, and health and wellness. Project leaders envision DPI as the hub of a statewide research network known as the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN).

* But it’s not all going to Chicago. For instance

State government has set aside $15 million for a new university building in downtown Springfield.

University of Illinois Springfield officials are in the planning stages for the proposed building. It would be known as the “Innovation Center,” and would be part of a larger “Innovation District,” according to documents distributed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office. […]

UIS is just one of several schools that’s getting a chunk of some $500 million in state capital funding overall. That money is aimed at building a network of public university-based “innovation” hubs: places designed to grow Illinois’ tech industry workforce and help companies get off the ground.

* And

Southern Illinois University Carbondale will receive $2.5 million as part of an effort to boost research and innovation in Illinois. […]

SIU’s “iFERM” hub is part of the statewide group. One of its goals is to find new ways to utilize and market Illinois agricultural products.

The “iFERM” hub will use the $2.5 million in initial funding for food and beverage research, as well as specialty crop agricultural programs and a centralized analytics facility.

* And

Governor J.B. Pritzker announces hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for different institutions across the state, including the UIC health sciences campus in Rockford.

* And

The Northern Illinois Center for Community Sustainability (NICCS) took a major step forward Wednesday when Gov. J.B. Pritzker released $500 million in capital funding appropriated for the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) and the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN), including $15 million for the NICCS at Northern Illinois University. […]

The 30,000-square-foot NICCS facility will be constructed on the university’s west campus, in an area north of the NIU Convocation Center. It will include classrooms, laboratories, exhibits and collaboration space for work with IIN and private sector partners.

* And

Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday touted statewide benefits he said will result from a $500 million state investment in 15 hubs of a University of Illinois-led public-private research institute network.

Eastern Illinois University in Charleston is one of the hubs.

* And

A new on-campus makerspace and startup incubator in Uptown Normal will be Illinois State University’s contributions to a newly funded Illinois Innovation Network, officials said Wednesday. […]

The technology- and education-based startup incubator will be called the ISU/Bloomington-Normal Community Startup Incubator (CSI). It will be located at the new Trail East project in Uptown, where financing issues have delayed construction. The incubator was previously announced.

* Background

A $10 million gift from the chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees and his wife is among $454 million raised by universities involved with the Illinois Innovation Network that will help move it forward. […]

“My wife, Anne, and I are thrilled to make this $10 million gift to the university that transformed our lives,” Don Edwards said Wednesday. “We want to pay forward the opportunities we have enjoyed, supporting the students and innovation that are key to progress and economic growth for our state and our nation.” […]

Former Gov. Bruce Rauner originally pledged the $500 million in state funds. But Pritzker said he needed to see proof of the network’s vitality and made the state money contingent on the members matching it.

* Last word

Pritzker also thanked former Mayor Rahm Emanuel for his work on DPI, which was first announced two years ago. The governor said Emanuel started calling him about the plans for the research hub even before Pritzker was elected governor in 2018, “and he hasn’t stopped calling.”

“Rahm can be relentless when he wants something done,” Pritzker said. “He said that DPI would anchor an ecosystem of tech growth, and would become an unparalleled engine of opportunity for our state. In addition to my gratitude for his support for this project, I’m grateful that the many phone calls from him might now subside.”

  21 Comments      


Carnival Barker

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]


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On excessive dramatics and stupid self-owns

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Zorn

Less than three weeks after a Cook County grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 counts of disorderly conduct last March, Foxx’s office abruptly dropped all charges against him with no guilty plea, no formal fine, no court supervision and no community service beyond a few hours he’d spent volunteering at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. This allowed Smollett to head to the courthouse lobby and proclaim his innocence, jabbing a thumb into the eye of the public that twisted there until Tuesday, when Webb announced a six-count indictment restating the old charges against Smollett.

In an accompanying statement, Webb noted that his investigation found no evidence that Foxx routinely disposed of cases the way she disposed of the Smollett case, as she’d claimed, and that “decision-makers overseeing the Smollett resolution decision have not identified any new evidence they learned of between the time of indictment and dismissal of the indictment that changed their view that the evidence against Mr. Smollett was strong.”

So what happened during the interim between indictment and full exoneration? That question has loomed over the March 17 primary battle between Foxx and three Democratic challengers largely because Foxx has refused to answer it, using as her excuse Webb’s investigation, which, as far as her conduct is concerned, is still ongoing.

Webb’s statement advised that his “decision to further prosecute Mr. Smollett is not evidence in and of itself that any individuals within the (Cook County state’s attorney’s office) engaged in any wrongdoing in connection with the Smollett investigation.”

* Smollett deserves plenty of scorn and Foxx messed up by not making him at least show some contrition and by not fully explaining why she did what she did. But the more than year-long media coverage of this case has just been way over the top, perhaps because so many excessively hyped Smollett’s questionable story at the beginning.

I mean, “jabbing a thumb into the eye of the public that twisted there until Tuesday” is a bit on the dramatic side, if you ask me. Chicago has long had a deserved reputation for wearing its inferiority complex on its sleeve, but that’s ridiculous.

Make no mistake, Foxx has supremely bungled several things (and, apparently, lied about past practices) along the way, which has only made matters far more perilous for her.

But the bottom line here is Foxx exercised prosecutorial discretion when she let a two-bit actor go free - not all that different from the southern Illinois prosecutors who regularly boast about refusing to enforce some state gun laws. You may not think it’s the right decision, but prosecutors have a whole lot of discretion. And they’re all elected, so people can always vote them out, particularly if they aren’t forthcoming about what they did. We’re about to find out if that will be the case with Foxx.

* Some of the media spin is ridic

And in another bit of conveniently timed news, a new report heaps praise on Foxx for her work in criminal justice reform. The Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers say policies under Foxx have resulted in “far fewer black and Latino people being sent to prison,” according to the Sun-Times.

Heaven forbid that the public isn’t told stuff like this a month before an election

The report focused on the years 2012 — when Alvarez was in office — and 2019 because the two had similar crime rates.

On average, 1,063 black and Latino people were sent to prison every month in 2012 after prosecutions by the Alvarez administration. In 2019, the average was down to 706, according to the report.

If anything, that got buried under the Webb indictments.

* And then there’s this

“I think she should resign, now,” said Donna More, who’s challenging Foxx in the March 17 Democratic primary. “She should resign because, while everyone is presumed innocent, the media frenzy will occupy her, and take her attention away from being able to do her job. How can she function? She can’t.”

Oh, please. President Trump takes far more in-coming on an hourly basis than Foxx has collectively endured for more than a year and he’s still functioning.

Also

And what the hell was Foxx thinking when she took calls about Smollett’s heater case?

As far as we know, that call she took was when Smollet was still considered a victim.

* But Foxx’s response to the new indictments was completely disingenuous…

What’s questionable here is the James Comey-like timing of that charging decision, just 35 days before an election, which can only be interpreted as the further politicization of the justice system, something voters in the era of Donald Trump should consider offensive.

Webb is a special prosecutor. His appointment has (unlike in the federal government) no tradition of or rules about holding off on indictments until after an election.

Anyway, it’s gonna be a rough four weeks in that county. Foxx should at least try to avoid further self-owns.

  31 Comments      


Oppo dump!

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a Daily Herald story about a recent 14th Congressional District Republican candidates’ forum

Ted Gradel of Naperville faced a question about his involvement with the U.S. Stem Cell Clinic. The Florida-based company lost a federal lawsuit initiated by the Food and Drug Administration that accused the business of using unapproved stem cell treatments that caused three patients to lose their eyesight.

Gradel was an investor in the company and listed as its co-owner and managing officer.

Gradel said he invested in the company after finding success in using his own stem cells to treat pain in his joints. He said he is no longer involved with the company.

“They ran into some problems treating patients,” Gradel said. “I never had any involvement in health care decisions. The clinic is in Florida. I’ve never lived in Florida. There’s hundreds of companies I’ve invested in. I do my best to learn each time and move on.”

* Yeah, it was a bit more than that. From March of 2017

U.S. Stem Cell Clinic is in the spotlight after three patients reportedly lost their eyesight following procedures here.

The Sunrise facility offers stem cell treatments for a range of diseases and chronic disorders and yet it has no medical facility license.

Here’s what you might not know: It doesn’t need one.

The facility falls under a regulatory loophole. Regulators with Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, which licenses health care facilities like hospitals and rehabilitation clinics, say they have no authority over stem cell operations. Neither does the Florida Department of Health, which only has regulatory power over personnel like licensed doctors and nurses working in these facilities.

* April of 2017

Even though the clinical trial posted online specifically targeted eyes, Bade was offered another procedure for the same day: She could also have her knee injected with stem cells for $1,500 to ease pain.

Both of her eyes were injected, instead of just one. That put her at risk of blindness if the procedure went wrong.

Her injections were done by a nurse practitioner who was identified as a physician.

* August of 2017

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday said U.S. Stem Cell Clinic in Sunrise, which had three patients suffer severe vision loss after stem cells were injected into their eyes, is violating federal regulations.

In a warning letter to the clinic’s chief scientific officer, Kristin Comella, the agency said U.S. Stem Cell does not have proper FDA permits to offer its experimental medical treatments. The clinic must respond to the FDA within 15 days or face regulatory action.

The clinic markets to patients nationwide who pay thousands of dollars to have stem cells harvested from their own body fat or bone marrow and reinjected into their bodies. The procedures have not been proven safe or effective by FDA standards.

Three women in their 70s and 80s with macular degeneration, all from outside South Florida, paid $5,000 each for stem cell injections in both eyes in 2015. They all had retinal detachments shortly after their procedures at U.S. Stem Cell. Two of the women sued for negligence, failure to warn, and allegations regarding how the product manufactured from their own bodies was defective. Both settled.

* December of 2017

High-priced and largely unregulated clinics are drawing desperate people to Florida with promises of medical miracles, a South Florida Sun Sentinel investigation has found.

These businesses say stem cells harvested from patients’ belly fat, bone marrow or blood can be reinjected into their bodies to repair the damage inflicted by a staggering range of diseases, from Alzheimer’s to multiple sclerosis to macular degeneration.

None of these procedures are clinically proven to be safe and effective.

None are federally approved.

And patients are paying the price.

* May of 2018

U.S. Stem Cell Clinic LLC, accused of injecting thousands of patients with unapproved stem cell treatments, is a target of an injunction request filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, according to a news release by the FDA.

The injunction is also being sought against the company’s chief scientific officer, Kristin Comella, and its co-owner and managing officer, Theodore Gradel, “for marketing stem cell products to patients without FDA approval and while violating current good manufacturing practice requirements, including some that could impact the sterility of their products, putting patients at risk.” […]

U.S. Stem Cell Clinic LLC previously said it stopped its treatments for macular degeneration in June 2015 “after adverse effects were reported.” But in November, it asserted that its “in-clinic stem cell procedures should not be subject to the same regulatory process as off-the-shelf drug products.”

* June of 2019

U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro of the Southern District of Florida granted the government’s motion for summary judgment against US Stem Cell Clinic LLC, of Weston, Florida, and US Stem Cell Inc., of Sunrise, Florida, and their Chief Scientific Officer Kristin Comella, Ph.D. The court held that the defendants in that case adulterated and misbranded a stem cell drug product made from a patient’s adipose tissue. […]

Following these steps, a U.S. court previously entered a consent decree of permanent injunction agreed to by the FDA and defendant Theodore Gradel, a former manager of US Stem Cell LLC that requires Mr. Gradel to notify the FDA if he intends to re-enter the biologics industry and to comply with any corrective actions ordered by the FDA.

  25 Comments      


Unclear on the concept

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Center Squares

During a debate Tuesday about limiting the number of cannabis stores in Springfield, where there’s already one adult-use store and another on the way, Alderman Joe McMenamin said the illicit market in California, where cannabis has been legal for years, has surpassed the legal market.

The Los Angeles Times reported in September that California’s black market for cannabis was at least three times the size of the state’s regulated industry.

McMenamin said he suspected the same thing is happening in Illinois.

So, the illicit market has “surpassed the legal market”? I got news for you, the illicit market has existed for maybe 100 years. It’s pretty darned entrenched, thanks to national prohibition. The idea is to eventually “surpass” it with legalization. It won’t happen tomorrow. It won’t happen next year. But it will eventually happen.

Also, Ald. McMenamin has been a solid “No” vote on cannabis from the get-go. Thankfully, the rest of the city council isn’t so inclined. Everybody else on the council opposed that aforementioned proposal.

  31 Comments      


It’s just a bill

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Press release…

State Rep. Terra Costa Howard, D-Glen Ellyn, joined a group of good government activists and local supporters Thursday to announce filing of the Fair Maps Amendment, a comprehensive reform of Illinois’ redistricting rules.

Costa Howard’s announcement was part of a statewide network of news conferences held Thursday by a bipartisan group of legislators and advocates supporting the Fair Maps Amendment. The events were coordinated with CHANGE Illinois, a non-partisan, non-profit group leading a coalition of more than two dozen organizations supporting the Amendment.

The Fair Maps Amendment would overturn the current system, which empowers legislators to draw partisan gerrymandered districts. Instead, an independent redistricting commission would be chosen to draw the district maps for the Illinois Senate and House. The commission members would be carefully selected to represent everyone who lives in Illinois, instead of placing power over district boundaries in the hands of politicians who have a vested interest in protecting their own careers.

“The first step toward increasing people’s trust in government is assuring voters that their elections are honest and that their voices are heard,” said Costa Howard. “By filing this amendment today, we are beginning a statewide conversation about the meaning of fairness and the importance of truly representative government.”

Costa Howard, who is sponsoring the Amendment in the Illinois House, announced the groundbreaking legislation in the Lombard Historical Society’s Victorian Cottage Museum, surrounded by posters and memorabilia highlighting Lombard’s historic support of women’s suffrage. In 1891, Ellen Martin, an attorney and Lombard resident, became the first woman to vote in Illinois after she found a loophole in the village charter granting voting rights to every Lombard resident over the age of 21, with no reference to gender.

The shocked polling judges admitted that Martin was legally entitled to vote, and 14 more Lombard women joined Martin in heading to the polls and casting their votes as well. Soon afterward, however, state legislators took action to severely restrict Illinois women’s ability to vote in local elections. Despite that setback, Lombard remained a center of women’s suffrage activism until 1920, when the ratification of the 19th Amendment recognized American women’s right to vote.

“When state legislators took action to keep Lombard women from exercising their right to vote, that was a particularly egregious example of politicians choosing their voters, instead of the other way around,” Costa Howard said. “Today, we’re honoring the bravery of Ellen Martin and so many other voting rights advocates – in Lombard and throughout Illinois – by demanding district boundaries that reflect community interests instead of following the self-centered wishes of incumbent elected officials.

“As elected officials, we should trust the voters of Illinois to make wise, well-informed choices,” Costa Howard added. “We need to take action now to reform Illinois’ redistricting system and strengthen people’s faith in our state government.”

Costa Howard’s event, held in the 48th district, was followed later Thursday by a news conference in the James R. Thompson Center in downtown Chicago. The Thompson Center event, led by CHANGE Illinois, included a bipartisan group of the Amendment’s chief co-sponsors in the state House and Senate, including: State Sen. Melinda Bush, of Grayslake; State Sen. John Curran, of Downers Grove, and State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, of Chicago. They were joined by representatives of several non-partisan, non-profit state and national groups supporting the Amendment, including the Illinois League of Women Voters, Common Cause Illinois, AARP-Illinois, and RepresentUS. State Rep. Ryan Spain held a news conference Thursday in his home district in Peoria.

“The people of Illinois overwhelmingly support redistricting reform,” Madeleine Doubek, executive director of CHANGE Illinois, said in a news release. “An independent poll by SIU’s Paul Simon Institute found 67 percent of Illinois voters want an independent commission to draw our legislative lines. The people of Illinois understand that we can’t have honest government and hold politicians accountable if we don’t have truly competitive elections that restore power to the people.”

* Sun-Times

After state Sen. Tom Cullerton was indicted for allegedly embezzling money from the Teamsters, the Villa Park Democrat was removed as chair of the Senate Labor Committee.

But instead of losing a powerful leadership position and the additional $10,327 stipend that comes with it, Cullerton simply took over as the chair of the Senate’s Veteran Affairs Committee.

That game of musical chairs left one of his Senate colleagues scratching her head.

Hoping to make sure tainted lawmakers truly face the music, state Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, has introduced a bill that would bar members of the General Assembly who face criminal charges from serving in any leadership or committee positions.

* Illinois Public Radio

Democratic state Sen. Ram Villivalam of Chicago is expected to file paid-family leave legislation similar to a measure passed in the Senate last year. Democratic state Rep. Mary Flowers, also of Chicago, said she plans to reintroduce a revamped version of her family leave measure the legislature failed to consider in 2019.

“When the mother has to rush back to work because of the pay … we are really hurting a lot of families by not getting them paid family leave,” said Flowers, who says she believes leave policies should cover parents and those who act as caregivers to ailing relatives.

If Illinois enforced some form of paid family leave for its residents, it would be the eighth state to do so.

State employees in Illinois had six weeks of paid parental leave until August when Gov. J.B Pritzker’s administration boosted that to 10 weeks. The city of Naperville just approved six- to 12-weeks of paid parental leave for its employees.

* Press release…

State Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, will be joined by NBA athletes Sterling and Shannon Brown and professional sports agents for a press conference to announce their support for the Student Athlete Endorsement Act on Friday, Feb. 14 at 10 a.m. in the James R. Thompson Center press room.

“To kick-off the start of NBA All-Star weekend in Chicago, professional players and agents are joining me in the effort to bring equity and fairness to college athletes by supporting the Student Athlete Endorsement Act,” Welch said. “This legislation gives college athletes the compensation and recognition that they deserve for their athletic achievements. I’m excited to announce the growing support for this initiative so we can work to get this passed in the Senate and signed into law.”

Welch’s House Bill 3904 creates the Student Athlete Endorsement Act allowing student athletes at any of Illinois’ four-year public or private universities to seek out endorsement opportunities or payment for the use of their name, image or likeness. The measure passed the Illinois House in October and is awaiting consideration by the Senate.

Welch will be joined by Sterling Brown of the Milwaukee Bucks and Shannon Brown formerly with the Los Angeles Lakers. Both athletes are graduates of Provisio Township High School District.

  18 Comments      


Today’s must-read

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Barb Ickes at the Dispatch-Argus

Stepping off a bus at an East Moline rest stop, the out-of-town college student had no idea what was about to hit him.

Jaylan Butler and his teammates from the Eastern Illinois University swim team were at the end of a long day. After competing in a conference championship swim meet in South Dakota, they spent the bulk of Feb. 24, 2019, traveling back to Charleston, Ill., in a rented coach with their school logo plastered on the sides. […]

“As I took the picture, there was a line of police officers … they came to a screeching stop in front of me,” Butler said. “At that moment, I only knew a couple things to do that my dad always told me.” […]

Two officers had Jaylan on the ground — his face pressed into the snow and an officer’s knee pressed into his back. One cop was pointing a rifle, Butler and [bus driver Todd Slingerland] said, and another had a gun pointed at the 19-year-old’s head.

“He said, ‘If you move, I’ll blow your (expletive) head off,’” Butler said.

Slingerland heard the same threat and shouted at the police that Jaylan was his passenger, and they were making a mistake. As he rushed back to the door of the bus and yelled for the coach, two more police vehicles arrived.

It gets worse, so go read the whole thing. The state police need to step up here.

  51 Comments      


Southern Illinois mother pulls her son out of public school after LGBTQ history lesson

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WFIL

A Williamson County mother has removed her son from school after learning he was being taught LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) history before the new law takes effect.

Shelly Murphy says she removed her son, Eli, from school after learning he was being taught LGBTQ history before HB 02-46, which mandates LGBTQ history be taught in Illinois schools, takes effect.

“I do not support the idea of LGBTQ being taught to my son at all. However, when I learned that it is being taught ahead of time, I was dumbfounded,” Murphy said over the phone. […]

“I support the first amendment. I just don’t think Greek mythology, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, LGBTQ, and politics should be taught in public schools. It is ridiculous what our country is coming to,” Murphy said.

As I recall, some Greek mythology history was taught in my school back in the day, as was “politics.”

* HB246 takes effect this July 1

Provides that in public schools only, the teaching of history of the United States shall include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State.

  62 Comments      


*** UPDATED x1 *** Heidner sues Gaming Board after private info leaked to feds

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

*** UPDATE *** Check out this tidbit in Mark Maxwell’s story

Perhaps ironically, the Gaming Board only discovered the leak of Heidner’s personal information while it was in the process of responding to a FOIA request from Heidner himself. After the businessman grew suspicious that someone at the state gambling agency was unfairly targeting him at the behest of his competitors, he filed several FOIAs seeking “all communications between the IGB and the Tribune” to support his theory.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Press release

Rick Heidner and Gold Rush Amusements, Inc., the victims of a data breach by the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB), filed a lawsuit against the IGB, alleging that their personal and sensitive financial information was intentionally and illegally leaked by an IGB employee. The IGB compounded the harm by failing to promptly notify Mr. Heidner and Gold Rush of the unauthorized disclosures and by taking unfair and improper actions against them, resulting in significant financial and reputational harm.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Illinois Court of Claims, accuses the IGB of causing substantial harm when an IGB employee intentionally and without authorization disclosed sensitive financial information, including personally identifiable information relating to Gold Rush, Mr. Heidner, his wife, two of his children, and other individuals. The IGB is legally required to keep this data confidential. The complaint, which alleges breach of fiduciary duties and negligence, seeks the maximum allowable damages of $2 million each for Mr. Heidner and Gold Rush.

Approximately half of the more than 50 individual victims of the IGB data breach had previous contact with Mr. Heidner or Gold Rush, a licensed terminal operator serving more than 500 establishments across Illinois. In addition to immediate and extended family members, the victims include individuals with whom Gold Rush has a contractual relationship under the jurisdiction of the IGB.

The IGB delayed notifying Mr. Heidner and the other victims of the unauthorized disclosures for nearly a month. According to the complaint, Mr. Heidner and his family received the IGB’s data breach notices on Jan. 31, well after the IGB discovered the breach on Jan. 3, and a week after the media had reported the breach. The IGB’s failure to promptly notify Mr. Heidner and the other victims and cooperate with them in matters relating to the data breach, as well as its failure to implement and maintain reasonable security measures to protect their private information from unauthorized access and disclosures, violates the Illinois Personal Information Protection Act.

“Despite requiring licensees and associated individuals to hand over a veritable treasure trove of their most sensitive data, the evidence will show that the IGB’s approach to protecting Mr. Heidner’s data has been careless and cavalier, at best,” the complaint states. By leaking confidential, sensitive personal and financial information, “the IGB has breached the trust and confidence that forms the very foundation of the relationship” between the state gaming agency and its licensees, the suit adds.

The unauthorized disclosures by an IGB employee to three federal government entities between Oct. 12-31, 2019, purportedly began the day after the first of a series of articles relating to Mr. Heidner was published in the Chicago Tribune. The Oct. 11 article criticized certain real estate partnerships and implied they were not properly disclosed to the IGB. “Such insinuations were false, in that Mr. Heidner had made complete and accurate disclosures in both Gold Rush’s initial terminal operator license application and in all renewal and related submissions to the IGB,” the suit states.

“These disclosures . . . were made without authorization and were not in response to any valid legal request.” Instead, the suit alleges that an “IGB employee made these unauthorized disclosures to fuel―or at least in response to―negative media coverage the IGB helped generate against Mr. Heidner and Gold Rush.”

Gaming licensees and associated individuals are required to provide the IGB with detailed disclosures of highly confidential personal and financial information. In Mr. Heidner’s case, initially in 2010 and annually since Gold Rush was first licensed in 2012, he has given the IGB information relating to his personal background, social security number, assets, liabilities, personal bank accounts, personal and business investments, real estate holdings, life insurance policies, vehicle ownership, mortgages, and liens, among other details.

The information was leaked―and the unauthorized disclosures were undetected for months―at a time when negative media publicity speculated about the completeness of Gold Rush’s and Mr. Heidner’s disclosures to the IGB, and at a time when the IGB chose to take unfair, unfounded actions against them, according to the complaint. The series of adverse actions without a proper factual basis included, in December, initiating a Disciplinary Complaint, incited by Gold Rush’s competitors, against Gold Rush that seeks the severe penalty of license revocation despite the company’s history of compliance.

On Jan. 3, when the IGB finally discovered the unauthorized disclosures by an employee, it failed to promptly alert Mr. Heidner or Gold Rush that they were victims. A week later, the IGB notified state legislative leaders of the breach but, again, failed to notify the victims. Two weeks after that, the media reported information about the leak, but Mr. Heidner and Gold Rush still were not informed that they were victims. When the media reports caused Mr. Heidner to expressly ask the IGB if he was a victim, the IGB remained silent until Mr. Heidner and his family received formal notices in the mail on Jan. 31.

On Feb. 1, Gold Rush and Mr. Heidner sent a letter to the IGB demanding basic answers regarding the data breach, as well as “an immediate and thorough investigation into the IGB’s role in the orchestrated and public smear campaign” against Mr. Heidner that began in October 2019. On Feb. 7, the IGB responded it could not provide the requested information to Mr. Heidner.

Upon filing the complaint, Mr. Heidner and Gold Rush also referred the matter to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul for further investigation.

* Sun-Times

A Gaming Board spokesman says the agency does not comment on pending litigation and declined to comment on the breach.

This latest legal volley from Heidner comes after the Gaming Board filed a disciplinary action against him in December seeking to revoke his gambling license for allegedly offering up a $5 million “illegal inducement” to the owner of a gambling parlor chain that planned to remove Heidner’s machines. Heidner’s team says it’s all part of a “smear campaign” orchestrated by a competitor with whom he’s also wrangling in civil court.

  6 Comments      


Fardon, other former Chicago feds blast USDOJ

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* NY Times with the setup

For decades after Watergate, the White House treated the Justice Department with the softest of gloves, fearful that any appearance of political interference would resurrect the specter of Attorney General John Mitchell helping President Richard M. Nixon carry out a criminal conspiracy for political ends.

In 2001, William P. Barr, describing his first stint as attorney general, under President George Bush, spoke of the department’s protected status in the post-Watergate era. “You didn’t mess around with it, didn’t intervene, you didn’t interfere,” he recalled in an oral history.

Fast forward to 2020, and Mr. Barr is attorney general once more. But President Trump’s ground-shaking conduct has demolished those once-sacrosanct guardrails. Mr. Barr’s intervention to lessen a prison sentencing recommendation for the president’s convicted friend Roger J. Stone Jr. prompted all four career prosecutors handling the matter to quit the case.

* WBEZ’s Dave McKinney and Tony Arnold with the local angle

Chicago’s former top federal prosecutor on Wednesday harshly condemned his former employer, the U.S. Justice Department, after it bowed to President Donald Trump and relaxed sentencing recommendations for the president’s friend, Roger Stone.

Zachary Fardon, who served as U.S. Attorney in Chicago between 2013 and 2017, told WBEZ he had never seen anything like what unfolded Tuesday in Stone’s case but predicted the precedent would not undercut efforts by federal prosecutors in Chicago to fight political corruption. […]

Asked how he would have handled things if he were prosecuting Stone’s case, Fardon said, “Exactly what those prosecutors did yesterday, which is remove myself. […]

“I think we are in unchartered waters on this one,” former FBI Agent-in-Charge Robert Grant told WBEZ in reference to the resignations in Stone’s case. […]

“What we did and what federal prosecutors all over the country do are they’re trying to do justice, they’re trying to do the right thing. And that should not and hasn’t in the past been dependent on who’s sitting in the White House,” said Eric Sussman, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice at Chicago’s Reed Smith law office.

  35 Comments      


“The only thing you have is your word”

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Tina Sfondeles at the Sun-Times

A “present” vote on a measure to expand abortion coverage in Illinois may cost an Orthodox rabbi — freshman state Rep. Yehiel “Mark” Kalish — his seat in the state House.

That’s if the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, and other abortion rights supporters have their way. Cassidy, alongside activists and elected officials such as Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Commissioner Debra Shore, is planning a “Kalish Lied To Us” news conference on Wednesday morning in Chicago.

The group says Kalish said he’d vote in favor of the bill as part of a requirement of his appointment to the seat. Kalish is the first ordained rabbi to serve in the Illinois General Assembly. […]

But Cassidy isn’t going after any of the other Democrats who either voted no or present. She said she’s singling Kalish out because he’s the only Democrat who changed his vote after making a promise to vote for it.

Cassidy says Kalish told her on the morning of May 28 that he would not be supporting her bill after previously making a commitment to do so. Cassidy also said Kalish spoke to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan to tell him of his planned “present” vote and even offered up his resignation over it.

* Jonah Meadows at the Patch

“In Springfield, the only thing you have is your word. And if you go back on your word, you have nothing,” Cassidy said. “Whether you agree with the fundamental substance of the bill, if you know a member has gone back on a promise like this you can’t trust him to ever make a promise again that you can count on.”

Kalish told Patch he did not believe that his reversal on the RHA had cost him credibility with his fellow legislators.

“I took 5,000 votes this session. We’re talking about one vote that I flip on. Every other vote was consistent. Every other vote. And there were some big votes,” Kalish said. “It hasn’t hindered as of now, I don’t think it will hinder in the future, and if there’s somebody who’s concerned maybe they’ll double check with me and make sure. But I hope that, as my career continues in this, that I’ll have the ability to continue proving myself.”

* Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), the lead sponsor of Reproductive Health Act, said Kalish’s decision blindsided her, especially since he made calls to generate support for the measure. For most of the legislative session, the bill languished in committee.

“In that moment I, quite frankly, really just wanted to get to my roll call and make sure that I could afford to lose that vote,” Cassidy said. “I wanted to go back to preparing for what was going to be a four-hour debate. But I shared a few thoughts with him in that moment, most significantly that I was watching someone I considered a friend throw away a political career.”

Cassidy said Kalish gave her his word that he would support the bill.

“When you make a promise like that, it should be binding,” Cassidy said. “Lots of folks will tell you that in Springfield. The only thing you have is your word.”

  28 Comments      


For first time, Exelon warns investors it could be hit with criminal or civil penalties, waves off class action suit

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

[Bumped up from late Tuesday for visibility and comments opened for discussion.]

* Steve Daniels at Crain’s

For the first time, Exelon is warning its investors explicitly that it and subsidiary Commonwealth Edison could be subject to criminal or civil penalties in the various federal investigations that have enveloped the energy company.

For months, Exelon has disclosed that it and ComEd received subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern Illinois into their lobbying activities and communications with state Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Cicero, who since has pleaded guilty to taking bribes. But, until now, it said it couldn’t predict any outcome of the probe.

* The new info is contained in Exelon’s SEC report….

The outcome of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and SEC investigations cannot be predicted and could subject Exelon and ComEd to criminal or civil penalties, sanctions or other remedial measures.

Any of the foregoing, as well as the appearance of non-compliance with anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, could have an adverse impact on Exelon’s and ComEd’s reputation or relationship with regulatory and legislative authorities, customers and other stakeholders, as well as their consolidated financial statements.

“Adverse impact.” Yeah. That’s one way to say it.

But the company doesn’t appear to be too worried about the financial impact

No loss contingency has been reflected in Exelon’s and ComEd’s consolidated financial statements as this contingency is neither probable nor reasonably estimable at this time. Management is currently unable to estimate a range of reasonably possible loss as these matters are subject to change.

* And then there’s this

Subsequent to Exelon announcing the receipt of the subpoenas, a putative class action lawsuit has been filed against Exelon and certain officers of Exelon and ComEd alleging misrepresentations or omissions by Exelon purporting to relate to matters that are the subject of the subpoenas and the SEC investigation. Exelon believes that these claims lack merit and intends to defend against them, and though the costs or any loss associated with the lawsuit cannot be reasonably estimated at this time, Exelon does not believe that the lawsuit will have a material adverse impact on Exelon’s or ComEd’s consolidated financial statements.

Click here for more info about that class action lawsuit.

  7 Comments      


Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Good morning!

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Here’s a little something to brighten your day

  5 Comments      


*** LIVE COVERAGE ***

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Follow along with ScribbleLive


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* Question of the day
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